Bullis students love to watch movies in the theaters as well as movies on television specifically produced for the television. Movies made for distribution through movie theaters are much more expensive than those made for television. Movie theater movies need a large number of people buying tickets in order to make money. Movies made for television are bought by a television network and are usually shown once and depend on the sale of commercials. Movies, regardless of whether they are for television or shown in the theaters, need to make money so the investors can recoup their investments. Since theatre movies cost a lot more money to make than a made for television movie, theatre movie producers focus on making films that appeal to the large group of movie goers, people under 30 years of old. Television movies, which are cheaper to produce, can appeal to a more diverse audience with a greater variety of topics.

Some movie experts would disagree that movie theatre productions are limited in their appeal to people less than 30 years of age, pointing to popular hits of 2013 such as Twelve Years A Slave and Blue Jasmine. Although these films did well financially, they did not begin to reach the money made by Iron Man 3, Hunger Games, and Despicable Me 2. Movie producers would argue that it is their responsibility to their investors to make movies that make the largest amount of money that they can.

Movie experts point to the recent trend of turning young adult novels into popular movies to prove that movie theater movies are dominated by movies made for a young audience. Traci Brown of the LA Times documents that in the last 8 years, no less than 27 young adult novels have been turned into blockbuster movie films. Melissa Hugel, a Scottish film critic, agrees with Brown’s point and also notes that even though many of recent films were targeted to an even younger age of 5 – 14, that movie producers also count on the 17-24 year old to buy tickets to such films as Frozen, Toy Story 3, and the Muppets.

This fact is further solidified by the statistic that the top ten grossing films in 2013 were all targeted to a young audience, ages 5 – 25. The only film in the top 15 growing films in 2013 that was focused to a broader audience was Gravity, which had a wider appear to multiple ages.

So, if you want to watch movies with subject matter for people less than 30 years of age, the movies in the theatres are great. But, if you want to watch movies with more substance and a wider range of topics, television movies are a better bet. Where else can you see in-depth biographies such as John Adams or Beyond the Candelabra or movies addressing issues such as suicide, racism, homelessness, and other important topics? Theater movie producers are dumbing down movie themes just to make money.

Movie theatre movies target their topics to a very young audience, thereby limiting the range of topics and ideas in the movies. Movies made for television have a great range of topics and are often more interesting and more controversial than the larger mass produced movies for the theatre.